To antique shop and gold shop owners, Gimmighoul are essentially thieves. They have to guard against them every single day. Because of Gimmighoul's peculiar nature, any gold coins they've nurtured carry a kind of curse. Customers who unknowingly buy those cursed coins will suffer bad luck as a result. That's why antique shops and gold shops go to great lengths to prevent Gimmighoul from getting near their gold in the first place.
"So are there any Gimmighoul around here?" Gary asked.
"There definitely aren't any inside our shop," the boss said. "But if you want to attract one, you could buy some gold coins and place them outside. Gimmighoul can sense gold coins on its own. I happen to have exactly the kind Gimmighoul likes. Interested?"
The boss immediately shifted into sales mode.
"I can't afford antique gold coins..." Gary wasn't foolish. Ordinary gold coins weren't too expensive, but antique gold coins were worth seven or eight times more than regular gold of the same weight. Gary was rich, but he wasn't about to throw money away carelessly.
"Don't worry, I also have regular gold coins here. I can sell them to you at modern gold coin prices," the shop owner said.
Gary immediately gave the man a suspicious look.
This guy probably isn't trying to pass off fake antiques as the real thing, is he?
The boss caught Gary's expression and quickly explained, "Don't look at me like that. All my gold coins were personally collected by me. Some of them turned out to be fakes I misjudged, but they're still made of real gold."
Gold itself wasn't hard to verify—there were plenty of people who tried to pass off ordinary gold as ancient relic gold to scam buyers, and many antique shop owners had fallen for similar tricks themselves.
"Alright, I'll buy one," Gary said.
"One won't be enough. The more gold coins you have, the more likely you are to attract a Gimmighoul. I'd suggest buying more," the boss said, looking every bit like a shrewd businessman at that moment.
Gary understood the boss was simply trying to sell him more coins, but he couldn't come up with a good reason to refuse. It was true—the more gold coins present, the stronger the pull on a Gimmighoul.
"How many do you think I need?" Gary decided to just go along with it.
"The reason Gimmighoul collects gold coins is because it wants to evolve. According to legend, it needs to gather 999 coins before it can evolve into Gholdengo. I'd recommend buying at least 100," the boss suggested.
Gary: →_→!
Have you ever managed to sell 100 fake relic golds before? At this point it sounds like you're just selling ordinary gold coins disguised as relic gold.
"How much would that cost?" Gary asked.
He didn't mind too much. A hundred gold coins was still within his acceptable range. Since he was paying regular gold coin prices anyway, and gold itself was a stable form of currency, he wasn't going to lose much even if he never resold them.
"Give me a moment," the boss said.
He disappeared into the shop's storage room, then returned carrying a sack that he set down on the counter. The moment it touched the table, the unmistakable clinking sound of metal echoed out.
"There are exactly 100 gold coins in here, each weighing 10 grams. Feel free to verify them one by one," the boss said.
Looking at the sack of gold coins, Gary was fairly confident these had been mass-produced by machine rather than hand-collected as the boss claimed.
"So how much is it?" Gary asked.
"Based on today's international gold recycling price, one gram of gold is worth 500. That makes each coin worth 5,000, plus a 500 labor fee per coin, so the total comes to 550,000."
"Let me verify them first."
"Go ahead."
The boss seemed completely confident these gold coins were genuine—just not antique. Although the labor fee felt a bit steep, it was fairly standard practice; regular gold shops charged similar fees too.
Gary knew how to test gold authenticity. All it took was heating the coins over a flame, and the shop conveniently had the tools for it. He placed the coins into a porcelain bowl and used Eruption to burn through them one by one. It took quite a bit of effort to test the entire batch.
The boss wasn't lying—although these coins weren't antiques, they were indeed made of real gold.
After paying, Gary tucked the coins into his backpack and left the antique shop.
"I suppose we could try catching one tonight."
Since it was already getting late by the time Gary left the shop, he decided to begin his search for Gimmighoul once night fell.
At the very least, he now knew for certain that Gimmighoul existed somewhere in Cascarrafa City, and likely more than one. They would go to great lengths to sneak into antique shops and gold shops whenever possible.
That was exactly why these shops usually kept a Ghost-type Pokémon on hand specifically to guard against Gimmighoul intrusions.
After grabbing dinner at a random restaurant, Gary stayed at the Pokémon Center until nightfall.
At 9 PM, Gary stepped back outside. By this time, all the antique shops and gold shops had closed for the night, and the streets were nearly empty. Most young people had gone off to nightclubs instead, and there weren't any nightclubs located near the antique or gold shop district anyway.
Gary found a closed gold shop and peered through its transparent glass window. Inside, he spotted a Mabosstiff standing guard.
[Lv.33 Mabosstiff / Elite-tier]
This Mabosstiff had naturally been placed there by the gold shop owner specifically to guard against Gimmighoul. Although Mabosstiff wasn't a Ghost-type itself, it was a Dark-type, which meant it had a natural advantage over Ghost-type Pokémon. On top of that, being a dog-type Pokémon, it could easily pick up the scent of a Gimmighoul nearby.
Mabosstiff was also commonly used throughout the Paldea Region specifically for guarding entrances. Not only could it ward off Gimmighoul, but it could also deter human thieves—making it a very practical choice for shop security.
The moment Gary appeared near the window, the Mabosstiff immediately turned its attention toward him. If Gary had recklessly tried to break into the gold shop, there was no doubt Mabosstiff would have attacked him on the spot.
Naturally, Gary had no intention of doing anything so foolish. He had simply come to observe, and after a quick look, he moved away from the shop entirely.
About a kilometer away from the gold shop, Gary found a small flower bed. He placed the sack of 100 gold coins right in the middle of it, then released Gengar. Together, they hid nearby and waited silently for a Gimmighoul to take the bait.
Gengar had been teleported over the previous night specifically to make this capture attempt easier.
Although this method seemed a bit simplistic, it was really the only practical option available at the moment.
As time passed, an hour went by. The city gradually settled into stillness, the daytime bustle completely gone.
In the dead of night, a tiny creature no more than 10 centimeters tall crept toward the flower bed.
At first, neither Gary nor Gardevoir noticed the tiny figure—it was simply too small, and Ghost-type Pokémon were naturally difficult to sense in the first place. There was no way they could have spotted it right away.
However, the moment the small creature got close enough to the sack of gold coins, it was immediately detected by both Gary and Gardevoir.
Gary, wearing his night vision goggles, finally caught sight of the tiny figure—the very Gimmighoul he had traveled all this way to find.
[Lv.30 Gimmighoul / Elite-tier]
This Gimmighoul's potential wasn't particularly high, but its level was quite impressive.
An Elite-tier Pokémon could typically be raised up to Level 39 at most. For this Gimmighoul to have already reached Level 30 on its own meant it must have spent a considerable amount of time growing to this point.
Gary figured this particular Gimmighoul had probably been alive for at least twenty to thirty years—possibly even longer than Gary himself had been alive.